Tottenham Hotspur and Woolwich Arsenal on Tour, 1912

Spurs at Leipzig

When the 1911-12 season ended on April 29th Woolwich Arsenal were in 10th place in Division 1 and Tottenham Hotspur in 12th. The famous North London rivalry had yet to come into being, as Arsenal were still based in Plumstead (South East London). In May 1912 both clubs embarked on tours of central Europe (Germany, Austria-Hungary) and played each other in an exhibition match at Vienna arranged by Hugo Meisl. 

Tottenham Hotspur
12.05.12	Hull City	2	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Brussels
	The Belgian Charity Cup- Beddeker Cup Hull City retaining the trophy.
16.05.12	VfB Leipzig	1	3	Tottenham Hotspur	Leipzig
	The hosts were Mittel-Deutschland champions and had made the semi-finals of the national championships.
20.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	2	5	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	An exhibition match for a solid silver cup and medals.
27.05.12	Ferencváros	1	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	Fradi were the champions of the Budapest league, winning 14 out of 18 games and having a goal difference of 57.
28.05.12	Hungary	2	2	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	The Hungary and Austria teams were preparing for the Olympic Tournament at Stockholm.
30.05.12	Hungary	3	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
02.06.12	Austria	3	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	Both Austria and Hungary featured in the second round of that summer's Olympic tournament- Hungary had a bye in the first round and lost 7-0 to Great Britain in the second. Austria beat Germany 5-1 before losing 3-1 to the Netherlands. They went on to meet in the final of the consolation tournament, Hungary winning 3-0.
Woolwich Arsenal
11.05.12	Hertha BSC Berlin	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
12.05.12	Viktoria 89 Berlin	2	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
	1911’s German National Champions.  Former Tottenham player Jack Brearley took up the coaching position at Viktoria at about this time.
16.05.12	Deutscher FC Prag	1	4	Woolwich Arsenal	Prague
19.05.12	Ferencváros	1	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Budapest
22.05.12	Grazer AK	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Graz
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
26.05.12	SK Rapid Wien	2	8	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	Rapid were the Austrian League champions…
27.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	…and WSC had finished the season just one point behind Rapid.
29.05.12	Sp Vgg Fürth	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Fürth
	Fürth were managed by Billy Townley , the former Blackburn Rovers player.

It was Arsenal's second visit. They had toured Belgium, Netherlands, Germany  and Austria -Hungary in 1907.  Tottenham were of course old hands at the touring lark. Having visited Austria -Hungary  in 1905 they had since played in Belgium, South America and Germany.

Hull City

Hull City supporters at The Boulevard, 1904

Hull City A.F.C. were founded on 28 June 1904. Kingston upon Hull was a  Northern Union (Rugby League) stronghold, and previous attempts to establish Association in the city had failed.

The club was formed too late in the year to apply for membership of the Football League, so in their first season they played only friendly matches.  The early matches were played at The Boulevard, home of rugby side Hull FC. This groundsharing scheme (costing the football club £100 a year) soon ended . They began their League career playing at The Circle, a cricket ground, and in 1906 established a stadium at  Anlaby Road. 

There were 6,000 at The Boulevard to see City's first match, a 2-2 draw with Notts County on 1st September 1904.

The white jerseys were soon abandoned in favour of black and amber stripes

Hull's prompt elevation to The Football League reflects the way in which the League actively promoted clubs in Yorkshire in order to challenge the dominance of Rugby League and get a share of a lucrative market.

City played their first League match on September 2nd 1905, beating Barnsley 4-1 at The Circle.

Here's the Hull line up: 

GK	Martin Spendiff
	From North Shields, Spendiff joined City from Grimsby Town.
FB	Ambrose Langley
	This was Langley’s last season in the Football League- he joined Hull from The Wednesday, where he had spent 11 seasons. He featured in the League Championship winning sides of 1903 and 1904. He was player manager and was in charge of City until 1913. He later managed Huddersfield Town.
FB	Tom Jones
	This was Shropshire born Jones’ only season of League football.
HB	Bill Martin
	Just 4 League appearances for Londoner Martin in 1905-06. He joined from Millwall Athletic and moved back south to join Clapton Orient for the following season.
HB	William Robinson
	Robinson joined Hull having made just 1 League appearance for Manchester City. He played 119 League matches for Hull before moving on to Bolton Wanderers in 1908.
HB	Davy Gordon
	10 seasons at Hull having joined from Leith Athletic. Played 270 games for Hull and later managed Hibernian and Hartlepools United.
OR	George Rushton
	Previous League experience with Burslem Port Vale.
IR	George Spence
	The second Scotsman in the team, Spence started off at St Mirren. He played League football for Gainsborough Trinity and Preston North End, punctuated with spells with a variety of Southern League clubs.  Returned to Scotland (Clyde) after one season at Hull, Scored Hull’s first ever league goal.
CF	David 'Soldier' Wilson
	Boer War veteran Wilson began his professional career in Scotland (he was an Englishman), Transferred to Leeds City in December 1905. Died of a heart attack he suffered when playing during the Leeds City v Burnley match on 27.10.06.
IL	Peter Howe
	15 goals in 32 League matches- later joined Leeds City.
OL	Andrew Raisbeck
	Scotsman- was at Liverpool along with his legendary brother, Alec, but never made the first team.  Emigrated to Canada after 2 season at Hull.